Greg Holderfield

Bio

Greg Holderfield is the Pentiar-Nugent Clinical Associate Professor of Design, Director of the Segal Design Institute and co-Director of the MMMprogram. The Segal Design Institute is the design innovation engine at Northwestern University, serving undergraduates, masters students and phd’s across campus. As the director, Holderfield is charged with teaching and leading the next generation of synthetic thinkers and leaders — people who are able to move across domains and industries, identify convergences, and create impact through the lens of human-centered design. He see’s these thinkers not as generalists, but specialists of a different sort. They take a unified approach to solving problems, drawing on skills from engineering, social sciences, design, and management theory. As the co-Director of the dual degree MMMprogram, Holderfield reframed the original program focus of manufacturing operations and management, to one that now grants a Master of Science in Design Innovation from Segal and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. His business students now think holistically and strike a balance between the analytical and the intuitive. They see and tackle problems differently, which positions them for a variety of roles that create, develop and deliver innovation. Holderfield teaches the core MMM design course, Research/Design/Build to 60 MBA’s every year. His professional design work has been recognized globally, having received over 25 design awards including four "Intentional Design Excellence Awards" (IDEA) including the "Gold" for Industrial Equipment Design. His work has been exhibited in galleries across the nation and has been published in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, and Wired.